America’s founding fathers realized how much damage well intended religions can do, so they took the trouble to separate church from state in their new democracy.

No offense intended, folks, but religious organizations have probably done as much harm as good in this complicated world of ours.

There’s much to applaud, for example, in the Roman Catholic church’s mission to feed the poor, heal the sick and enlighten the ignorant. In Jamaica – and around the world – Catholic hospitals, food pantries and schools have done an indispensable job.

And I’m among the new Pope’s biggest fans.

But I’m sure you know the Catholic church has had its share of scandals. And the horrors of the Inquisition would make anyone’s blood run cold.

Also, when it comes to questions of doctrine (such as birth control and abortion), Mother Church can be frighteningly unbending

Why am I, a puny blogger, daring to sit in judgment on the Holy Catholic church?

Because I see religion’s tentacles stealthily encircling America’s government, and I feel obliged to sound the alarm. This country is in danger of becoming a theocracy. Is that what you want?

When six of the nine Supreme Court justices are Roman Catholic, for example, you have to consider the possibility of religious bias. And with Justice Kennedy’s retirement, the court is set to get another devout Catholic to replace him.

I can hear you protesting that the learned justices set aside their religious beliefs and base their judgments exclusively on the US Constitution. But you know in your heart that’s wishful thinking. They’re human after all.

The latest appointment to the court, for example, is obviously influenced by his Jesuit upbringing.

I’m talking about Brett Kavanaugh., that mild mannered family man, who sounded so fair and reasonable on TV last night.

How different that nice man was from the one who tried to force a young girl to carry her baby to term.

As a judge on the Washington DC appeals court, Kavanaugh, argued vehemently against allowing an undocumented immigrant to get a legal abortion while in government custody.

Fortunately for the girl, the other members of the court overruled Kavanaugh.

You might argue that abortion is a sin, that it is an intolerable act of violence against an unborn child. But I would remind you that in many cases, the alternative is worse. In rape or incest, for example, or when a mother’s life is at stake.

In any case, surely, you don’t want to be bound by some other person’s religious belief? Surely that’s between you and your concept of God?

And I would add that by abolishing legal abortion, as Kavanaugh would undoubtedly want to do, the court would not stop abortions,it would merely criminalize them.

I can remember all too vividly the often bloody backroom abortions of the old days. Is that what you want to bring back?

Kavanaugh is also a lifelong conservative activist. And he has argued that the US president should be above the law governing you and me.

Why? Because the president has such an important job. Really.

There’s a lot in Kavanaugh’s background to cause concern. And, to me, his religious bias poses the greatest threat to our democratic freedoms.

5 thoughts on “When Religion Rules”

“Classical liberalism is a political ideology and a branch of liberalism which advocates civil liberties under the rule of law with an emphasis on economic freedom”
…
“It drew on the classical economic ideas espoused by Adam Smith in Book One of The Wealth of Nations and on a belief in natural law, utilitarianism and progress. The term ‘classical liberalism’ was applied in retrospect to distinguish earlier 19th-century liberalism from the newer social liberalism.”

“Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Love is the law, love under will.” This phrase can be, and usually is, interpreted universally, having moral, mystical, and socio-political implications.

Thelema was developed in the early 1900s by Aleister Crowley, an English writer, mystic, and ceremonial magician.”

“noun
a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.”

Then it’s impossible to take a stand on many important issues without at least presuming upon conclusions that might be derived from religion.

It seems to me that what the Founding Fathers were after was not the abolishment of religion in governing the country, but only in the prevention of religious persecution.

Judging from information that I’ve stumbled upon over time, it seems that the United States was founded upon utopian ideas that were Christian, but not Christian alone. Indeed, various Christian sects fled religious persecution as probably did certain types of non-Christians.

Then it would make sense that the foundational ideas would not be to ban religion, but only to place limits on religion’s power to persecute.